Stiell said Australia has more to gain and more to lose than most nations and therefore had a responsibility to help lead a global effort to decarbonise its economies and unlock the trillions of dollars needed to prepare for climate impacts.
“It is Australia which will be the front and centre in resettling entire national populations[if climate targets are not met],” said Stiell,who has served as the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change since August 2022.
His comments followa treaty signed last year that allows citizens of Tuvalu escaping the impact of climate change a special visa to resettle in Australia.
Stiell said Australia could “seize huge opportunities” and avoid “climate carnage” if it adopted a “climate forward economic reform agenda.”
He said Albanese,Bowen and other G20 leaders were fully aware of the opportunities and threats presented by climate change.
“Folks think food prices at the checkout are bad now. They ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Simon Stiell
He said if G20 nations – which contribute 80 per cent of global emissions and represent 85 per cent of global GDP – do not step up the collective pace of emissions reductions to be on track to halve by 2030,Australia’s economy and living standard would be severely damaged.